49ERS NOTEBOOK / Brown Wore Down As Game Went On / Sub holds off Smith until the second half

Ira Miller, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Monday, October 5, 1998

1998-10-05 04:00:00 PDT Orchard Park, N.Y. -- After a week of worrying about him, left tackle Jamie Brown turned out to be among the least of the 49ers' problems yesterday. He held his own with Bruce Smith for a half, but the 49ers' parade of mistakes took them out of the game long before Brown seemed to wear down after halftime.

Brown insisted endurance was not an issue, despite a telling sequence in the third quarter when Smith raced past him to beat on Steve Young four times in six plays, including three in a row. And offensive line coach Bobb McKittrick essentially agreed, pointing out the 49ers had problems everywhere else, too.

"The first game, this is like preseason for me," Brown said. "I'm happy I got this one under my belt."

Because of his various injuries followed by a three-week suspension, Brown has had little practice time this year, and didn't play in any of the previous eight exhibition or regular- season games.

The 49ers, at least in the first half, did not give Brown as much tight- end help as might have been expected; there were only seven plays before halftime in which they lined up a tight end alongside Brown. In the third quarter, they began helping him more but by then it was too late, because, with a big lead, the Bills were all-out pass-rushing on every play.

RECORD-TYING: The two previous NFL teams that were penalized 22 times in a single game were the Chicago Bears and Brooklyn Dodgers, both in the 1944 war season. The record for penalty yards in a game, 209, was set by Cleveland against the Bears in 1951; the Browns were penalized 21 times in that game.

STREAK ENDS: The NFL record of games in which a team gained at least 500 yards on offense remains at three -- the 49ers this season and San Diego in 1982. The 49ers finished with 377 yards.

Steve Young passed for 329, but 194 of it came in the fourth quarter with the game already decided. It marked the first time in his career he has passed for more than 300 yards in four straight regular-season games, and he has thrown three touchdown passes in four straight games.

BAD PREDICTION: Before the season, linebacker Ken Norton, on his weekly radio spot, said Antonio Langham would improve the 49ers' pass defense, and pointedly predicted he wouldn't get a lot of pass interference penalties.

Clearly that was a shot at Rod Woodson, a starting cornerback a year ago, who was called for a team- high 12 penalties last season. Guess what? Langham already has been penalized eight times in four games, twice as many as any other 49ers' player.

INJURY REPORT: The good news was the 49ers came out of the game healthy. The only key player who got dinged was free safety Merton Hanks (pinched nerve in his neck, sprained left wrist). Hanks left the stadium with a protective soft cast on his wrist but is expected to be ready for next Sunday's game at New Orleans.

THIS AND THAT: The 49ers have started a season with more than three straight victories only three times in their history, last in 1990. . . . The 32 penalties assessed against both teams was the third most in league history. . . . Buffalo PK Steve Christie became the Bills' all-time leading scorer. . . . Buffalo LB Chris Spielman, sitting out the season while his wife undergoes treatment for breast cancer, visited his teammates on game day for the first time this season. . . . Until they got their act together in the fourth quarter, the 49ers were in danger of being shut out for the first time since 1977. The 49ers have scored in an NFL record 326 consecutive games. . . . Jerry Rice survived his first post-surgical game on artificial turf but was no factor in the game.

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